Suflí Olive Oil Mill 2/6

Stone mill

Audioguide in text

Unfold this banner if you prefer to read the text of the audio guide for this stop on your own.

[ Haz click para desplegar ]

Stone mill

This mill, a breaking mill, where the fruit of the olive tree was crushed using the friction technique, used one of the most primitive systems, with its first examples dating back to the Neolithic period. Its operation consisted of crushing the olive by the weight of the stones, breaking the mesocarp of the olive, the true barrier to the oil. With this system of truncated cone-shaped stones, or ‘millstones’, of limestone type, by means of a rotating and translating movement on a hearth, an olive paste was obtained, to which hot water was poured, to turn it into a liquid paste, which would finally be transformed into oil.

In the centre of the sill there is a hollow where the vertical shaft was inserted, made of iron, which ends up embedded in a thick beam built into the load-bearing walls of the olive-oil mill. It is curious that, given that olive-oil milling was such a common and habitual activity in the Mediterranean agricultural economy, these millstones did not become popular until the 19th century. Although their initial traction was by animal power, it would be in that same century when the first mills connected to motors by means of pulleys and gears would appear, as is the case here.

Continue this audio guide with the rest of the Points of Interest by scanning the QR codes

Loading